April 20: Ullapool and Stornaway, Isle of Lewis

We checked out of our hotel and headed to Ullapool where the Caledonia-MacBrayne Ferry Terminal was.  It was a beautiful drive that took about 1 1/4 hours.  We boarded the ferry and relaxed in our recliners with a beautiful view during our  2 1/2 hour trip.   The ferry even had a section for dogs and their owners.
When we arrived in Stornaway I called Anne at the Ness Historical Society, the contact that our cousins had given us.  She agreed to meet with us the next day at 10AM and gave me contact info for Anna, who was with the Tolsta Historical Society on the other side of the island.  She also told me that Anna was working at the museum at Lews Castle that day where, coincidentally we were headed.  " Lews Castle was built by James Matheson who purchased Lewis in 1844." The displays were bilingual (Gaelic & English) and provided information on life in the Outer Hebrides.
I asked where Anna was docenting and found her.  We had a great conversation and she asked for the geneaology that I had so went to the car to get it for her.  She promised to get in touch with Donald Murray who was the best historian in the area, to arrange a meeting for us the next day too.  As we were leaving I mentioned the family that we had met 17 years ago but had lost touch with and she knew them.  She promised to give Donald Mac Donald a call too.
We went and checked in to the Hebridean Guest House where we had stayed 17 years ago.  It was as nice as we remembered.  We asked Linda for a recommendation for a restaurant where we could have dinner that was within walking distance and had a lovely dinner at HS1.  While there, I received a desk from Donald Mac Donald asking if we would like to come over to his sister's home--as we had done 17 years ago!  He came and picked us up and we had a delightful evening catching up.  He also printed out a map for us showing a red arrow at the location of Croft #26 out in Tolsta.  (It was in Gaelic but there are no road names, just croft numbers!)

Ferry in distance

On our way onboard
Underway

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nicholsons and MacIvers--Discovering Family History on the Isle of Lewis

Image
My cousin, Ken Nicholson, put me in touch with cousins who live in South Dell in Ness on the Isle of Lewis.  At the time of our visit they were house sitting for their daughter in Inverness so they met us in the cafe at the Culloden Visitors Centre on 4/19/17.  We thoroughly enjoyed our almost two hours with Margaret and Donald Gillies.  They are actually related to Ken on his Nicholson side rather than directly to me.  Our grandmothers were sisters and they both married Nicholson cousins.  The Gillies gave us the name and phone number for Anne MacSween(sp?) at the Ness Historical Society.  They also told us about a delightful shop that their niece had where we had another nice visit but will talk more about that later.  Donald also gave us directions to their house/croft so we could at least drive by.  Donald also told us that my great great great grandfather had lived on Croft #26 in Tolsta! When I called the Ness Historical Society on 4/20/17 after arriving on the Isle of
Read more

4/17-18 Leaving San Jose and Arriving in Glasgow, Scotland

Image
View from outside the Hilton Garden Inn, Glasgow On Monday, 4/17/17, Johnnie picked us up in his new car, at Randi and David's house in San Jose where they generously allowed us to park our car for the duration of the trip.  Johnnie dropped us off at the British Airways door at San Jose International Airport.  We departed San Jose at 8:10PM and arrived at London Heathrow the next day at 2:25PM, departing for Glasgow at 4:40PM, arriving at 5:50PM on Tuesday. The plane was a 787 and we found it to be very comfortable.  We were also fortunate to have an empty seat in our row so we could spread out.  The food and service were excellent and although long, it was much better than we had expected. Upon arrival we went to Enterprise to pick up the car which was an automatic Vauxhall and Bill drove it perfectly for our whole trip.  Our hotel was the Hilton Garden Inn in Glasgow so we headed there, checked in, had dinner and went for a walk.  Bill needed distilled water for his CPAP
Read more